Getting Communities Together Through Cinema in Trowbridge

A brand new season of films from around the world will be screened in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, from September 2017 to January 2018. The idea is to offer the opportunity to locals and people from different communities living in the town to get together and learn more about each other’s traditions by watching and then sharing ideas about a movie, sometimes including some food, other with Q&A with the directors or special speakers.

There will be a total of four screenings -one per month- on Saturdays at 2pm at Town Hall Arts, Trowbridge with adult tickets only £5 and £3 for under 16 years old. These charges are to cover the cost of film licenses and professional projection equipment.

Juan's Claws (Las garras de Juan) is a short documentary about the determination of a man and his battle with an inherited disease -Friedreich’s Ataxia - that debilitates all muscles in the body. Working in between the genre of observational documentary and personal cinema, it follows Juan’s journey to the middle of the jungle along the Don Diego River in the Sierra Nevada, Santa Marta – Colombia, his dream for his fortieth birthday celebration.

Rolling Strong (Rodar contra todo) is a feature-length documentary film that tells the story of the first wheelchair rugby team in Perú. They are a group of men and women from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds who got together in 2012 to play a new sport of which they knew little about. The film follows them for two years, showing their process of coming together as a team.

After the screening, Alejandra will be answering questions in Trowbridge and Marianela via Skype from Lima. Both films are in Spanish with English subtitles and can be considered as F-Rated productions. The F-Rating is a classification for any film which is directed by a woman &/or is written by a woman &/or features significant women on screen.

28 October: Black History Month: Black British Journey on ScreenIn partnership with Seedbed, West Wiltshire Multi Faith Forum & West Wiltshire Community Club, Town Hall Arts is presenting a film showing the experience of British black people throughout the last century. The idea is to celebrate by sharing a meal together and having an informal discussion after the film. This is a free of charge event. Britain on Film: Black Britain (Director: Various, UK, 1901-1985, 90 minutes, 12A) is a compilation that explores the history of the UK through the eyes and voices of black Britons throughout the 20th century. Bringing together films spanning 1901 to 1985 and taken from many different regions of the UK, it offers incredibly rare, little-seen and valuable depictions of black British life on screen.

25 November: India on film in your CommunityDuring 2017 the British Film Institute is celebrating the diversity of Indian cinematography considering India has one of the world’s fertile film industries. Local businesses Cinnamon Lounge, The Lunch Box & Peri-Peri Box are kindly sponsoring this event with some tasty surprises for the audience.

The Lunchbox (Dir: Ritesh Batra, India, France, Germany, US, 2013, 104 mins, PG)(in Hindi with English Subtitles)Middle-class housewife Ila is trying once again to add some spice to her marriage, this time through her cooking. She desperately hopes that this new recipe will finally arouse a reaction from her neglectful husband. She prepares a special lunchbox to be delivered to him at work, but, unbeknownst to her, it is mistakenly delivered to another office worker. Curious about the lack of reaction from her husband, Ila puts a little note in the following day’s lunchbox, in the hopes of getting to the bottom of the mystery.

20 January: Refugees StoriesRefugee crises are covered daily in the media, which show us terrible images of countless people desperate for a better life or just fighting for a chance to survive.

Born in Syria (Dir: Hernán Zin, Denmark, Spain, 2016, 78 min. Recommended +12)(Arabic, Kurdish, French, English, German and Spanish with English subtitles)Since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, around four million Syrians have had to abandon their country, fleeing violence. Over half of them are children. Born in Syria narrates the journey of these refugees from the point of view of the children who live this constant torment. They suffer the abuse of the mafias, the harshness of the sea, the uncertainty of the future with barely the shirt on their back, only to arrive at their long-awaited destination and start a new odyssey: an integration into a new land that, for many, is hostile. Filmed in 12 countries, this is a unique testimony to the refugee experience.The season has been programmed specially for Town Hall Arts, by Venezuelan Journalist Lorena Pino Montilla - based in Wiltshire- with technical support of Cinema For All.